STICKY: Foundation (old) Camera Board information

[jamesh]

Just a quick note for people wanting a little bit more information on the new camera board.

The PCB is 25 x 20 x 9mm (approx). Weight currently unknown but very light.

The module itself is an OV5647 (see http://www.ovt.com/products/sensor.php?id=66), a fixed focus 5MP sensor capable of 2592 x 1944 stills, but also 1080p30, 720p60 and 640 x 480p60/90. We are still working on the faster frame rates, but stills capture and 1080p30 are already working. There is still some work to do on the camera driver and on image quality.

The module package itself is 8.5 x 8.5 x 5mm.

[RaTTuS]

can we get some images of it any time soon [before it is released ?]
and some images from it

nice work BTW

[jamesh]

Here is a picture of the board attached to the Raspberry Pi, along with a bare sensor and a ruler for some indication of size.

[jamesh]

can we get some images of it any time soon [before it is released ?]
and some images from it

nice work BTW

We don't want to show pictures until the quality it at a level we are happy with. It's not bad, but could be better.

[malakai]

Take a pic of the board with the board silly. And and could you flip the ruler around for us poor US folks.

Looks great here's my credit card just send me 4 of them

Visa
*****-*****-*****-*****

[jamesh]

Take a pic of the board with the board silly. And and could you flip the ruler around for us poor US folks.

Looks great here's my credit card just send me 4 of them

Visa
*****-*****-*****-*****

Actually, the picture as taken with a Videocore GPU, albeit one with a 41MP sensor attached to it. So it's half way to being recursive.

(Oh, and your credit card number doesn't work...)

[campi]

Sheesh - these guys who are going metric ........... inch by inch. We all in the UK completed that in the twentieth century! I thought we were late to the party.

campi

[psergiu]

The 720p mode with 2x2 pixel binning & filtering looks VERY interesting as it brings:
- Better low-light performance;
- Lower noise;
- "Faster" images (thus less motion shearing);
- Wider image - at it uses almost the whole sensor (2560x1440 out of 2592x1944 as opposed to ~40% of the sensor area at 1080p);

Hope you can get-it to work.

[texy]

The 720p mode with 2x2 pixel binning & filtering looks VERY interesting as it brings:
- Better low-light performance;
- Lower noise;
- "Faster" images (thus less motion shearing);
- Wider image - at it uses almost the whole sensor (2560x1440 out of 2592x1944 as opposed to ~40% of the sensor area at 1080p);

Hope you can get-it to work.

.....could be good for astro photography

Texy

[jamesh]

The 720p mode with 2x2 pixel binning & filtering looks VERY interesting as it brings:
- Better low-light performance;
- Lower noise;
- "Faster" images (thus less motion shearing);
- Wider image - at it uses almost the whole sensor (2560x1440 out of 2592x1944 as opposed to ~40% of the sensor area at 1080p);

Hope you can get-it to work.

I'm sure we will get there eventually - I just need to spend time on it (short of that at the moment). So what might happen is you get the basic working camera for release (Stills, 1080p30), and we add new features as time goes by. It's a simple GPU blob update to add new camera modes, and any apps will simply ask for a particular set of image parameters (size, fps etc) and the driver picks the closest one. So apps won't need to change - you'll just get a more accurate mode to the requested setup as we release more modes.

[shuckle]

Gets my vote. Better release sooner and then add new versions later.

[mjtrac]

When used in snapshot mode, do you get the full 5 MP?

Is there a refresh delay, or can you theoretically take snapshots at multiple frames per second (ignoring any need to store or transmit them)?

Thanks.

[Mr_Ranger]

So the camera board is roughly the size of an SD card?

[Jim JKla]

That is what it looks like.

[salem]

I have a quick question about something I'd like to confirm. The Pi can only accept one camera module, right? Or can it accept more than one module?

It would be fun for things like stereoscopic 3d images or multi-angle security camera or all sorts of other cool projects..

[toxibunny]

mmm... 640*480p90...



Edit: Salem: one module only. 3D will have to be done with some fancy mirror/prism trickery...

[jamesh]

I have a quick question about something I'd like to confirm. The Pi can only accept one camera module, right? Or can it accept more than one module?

It would be fun for things like stereoscopic 3d images or multi-angle security camera or all sorts of other cool projects..

Unfortunately, although the GPU can do two cameras, the Raspi only brings out one CSI port. to the PCB. There's a limit to how many connectors and traces you can get on the PCB and keep it within sensible costs.

[jamesh]

When used in snapshot mode, do you get the full 5 MP?

Is there a refresh delay, or can you theoretically take snapshots at multiple frames per second (ignoring any need to store or transmit them)?

Thanks.

Yes. The sensor can do 15fps at 5MP, but I don't think we would be able to get that high, but 2 or 3 fps might be feasible. BUT I've never tried it. Too much else on my plate to worry about that at the moment.

As you say, the problem is getting JPG data on to SD card fast enough to keep up. Some sort of burst mode would work, say 20 shots cached perhaps. Dunno. All to be sorted out at a later date!

[jamesh]

mmm... 640*480p90...



Edit: Salem: one module only. 3D will have to be done with some fancy mirror/prism trickery...

Actually, I've noted the sales brief says 120fps at 320x240, but that's not in the datasheet I have. That only gives specs up to 640x480p90. I'll check with Omnivision.

[Jim JKla]

There are projects to make a super computer array this would add a camera port per RPi in the array

See here http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/

Array could be as small as 4 according to the article

[synack]

Is there an infrared filter on the sensor? If so, can it be removed?

[jamesh]

Is there an infrared filter on the sensor? If so, can it be removed?

Probably, and I doubt it. (But I am sure someone will try to remove it)

[redhawk]

I modded a camera module of a similar size for an OV7670 sensor the IR filter glass sat directly behind the lens.
All I had to so was unscrew, pop out and screw the lens back together with the correct focus (which is different for IR light).

What's the viewing angle or FOV with the provided lens??

Richard S.

[MrGreg]

Post by jamesh » Wed Feb 06, 2013 10:35 pm

synack wrote:Is there an infrared filter on the sensor? If so, can it be removed?



Probably, and I doubt it. (But I am sure someone will try to remove it)

Well, I'm just that someone...

Would it be possible to confirm if the IR filter is on/in the lens assy or a coating on the chip itself, or a discrete filter between the lens and chip.

I'm happy to void my warranty, but would rather do it with the odds in my favour of achieving my desired result.

[d0vr]

I have a quick question about something I'd like to confirm. The Pi can only accept one camera module, right? Or can it accept more than one module?

It would be fun for things like stereoscopic 3d images or multi-angle security camera or all sorts of other cool projects..

You could link to pi's together at a pinch?